NATIONAL DIRECTOR’S MESSAGE
This issue of au courant follows hard on the heels of our last issue so that we can mail out advice of our Annual General Meeting, to be held as usual in conjunction with the Canadian Museums Association Conference. This year the venue is Saint John, New Brunswick, and we are looking forward to meeting our members from that region. Please come and join us on Thursday, May 4 at the Conference location, The Hilton Hotel.
We are also including a call for Nominations for the 2006 – 2007 Board of CFFM. If you would like to participate, or know someone who would like to be involved, please let us know. The details are on the accompanying form. Directors can serve up to nine years, but are elected annually at the AGM.
Inside this issue is a very interesting article by Bill Barkley, one of our Directors and the past Director of the Royal B.C Museum in Victoria. Bill is extremely active in the museum world and we are lucky to have his help and expertise.
We have nearly completed the reissue of “How to Start a Friend’s Group”, which was initially issued by the World Federation of Friends of Museums in English and Spanish, to include French, and will be happy to distribute it to members on request.
There is going to be a spate of museum re-openings over the next few years as major renovation projects are completed. It is all very exciting. The Royal Ontario Museum recently opened their redesigned Far Eastern suite of galleries and The Gallery of Canada: First Peoples in the heritage sections ( 1914 and 1930s ) of the museum, and awaits the completion of the series of new galleries which are under construction. These newly opened galleries are well worth a visit if you happen to be in Toronto.
Jo Breyfogle
National Director
MUSEUMS CONNECTING TO COMMUNITY
Bill Barkley
Studies over the years indicate that in North America the “regular museum-going” public (visiting a museum at least once per year) amounts to 40% of the population and the “active museum-going” public (four or more visits per year) account for 20% of the population1. Reversing these numbers is somewhat startling, 60% of the population never visit museums and 80% of the population are not active users of museums. What are the implications of these statistics? Top of mind from the recent federal election is the effect on government’s attitude towards funding museums and galleries. Everyone is affected in some way by the services government provides for health and education. Those topics remain at the top of the political agenda, and rightly so. When 80% of the population are not active users of museums it is clear to legislators what the priority of funding for these institutions will be. As well, it speaks to the need to engage with people in the community more fully to create more active users of museums.
At a British Columbia Museums Association conference in the fall, Elaine Gurian a noted author and museologist from the United States gave a presentation on moving museums from being ‘nice to have’ to ‘ESSENTIAL’. One of her comments which needs to be explored further is that we put our publics in charge of our museums. She went on to discuss what that means in terms of making museums relevant to the people who live in the community. She proposed that museums are essential in that they provide a safe place for people to meet and express themselves. She talked about the need to make museums comfortable spaces and coined the term – museums as congregate spaces. The museums role is to facilitate the process of engaging in discussions that are meaningful to the people who live in the community.
Museums have been engaged with community by sharing history or providing people with the opportunity to appreciate works of art. Recently museum professionals have been questioning if that is enough. A book published by the University of Calgary entitled, Looking Reality in the Eye; Museums and Social Responsibility2 edited by Bob Janes and Gerald Conaty provides a series of case studies of museum programs that are moving beyond traditional roles to engage the community. The Calgary Police Interpretive Centre which formerly exhibited police equipment, weapons, commemorative photographs, and uniforms moved from this typical police museum to provide exhibits on drug abuse, juvenile prostitution, domestic abuse and family violence. The reaction by the community has been positive and there is evidence that the exhibit has done what museums are supposed to do, made a difference in people’s lives. Other case studies present examples of an art museum in a hospital that is producing positive therapeutic results on long term patients or a science centre that responded to the 911 disaster in New York City by caring for survivors and their families. This is a new way for museums to connect to community but the evidence suggests that by increasing the relevance and hence the value to the community. This increased value is having a positive impact on funding for many of these organizations.
Further, we, museum people, need to understand how museums fit into the fabric of the community. Richard Florida who is an American professor of regional economics suggests that there is a dramatic change in what drives a community’s economy. He posits that there is a new class of people, the creative class, in his book The Rise of the Creative Class3. According to his thesis creativity is tied to economic success and communities that support creativity are more likely to attract business and a highly skilled workforce. Creativity is evidenced by a healthy cultural sector of which museums are a part. Ensuring that government and funding agencies know that museums are an important part of the mix of cultural venues, which are looked for by the creative class. In the past we have tried to link to the economic argument, with limited success, by trying to demonstrate the museums direct and indirect impact on the economy. Richard Florida’s argument is that nurturing and developing a creative community has a direct payoff to the economy of that community.
In conclusion, we do need to change the numbers that were referenced in the beginning of this article. Stephen Weil in his book Making Museums Matter4 suggests that changing these numbers will require a role reversal. “At some point- probably not more than forty or fifty years into the twenty-first century – the relative positions of the museum and the public will have revolved 180 degrees. In their emerging new relationship – already to be glimpsed in a myriad of ways – it will be the public not the museum, that occupies the superior position. The museum’s role will be transformed from one of mastery to one of service.” When the public are more fully engaged in the decisions of the museum the numbers will change and the museum will move from being nice to have to ESSENTIAL.
1 Neil Kotler and Philip Kotler, Museum Strategy and Marketing, (San Fransisco, Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1998) p.103.
2 Robert R. Janes and Gerald T. Conaty, Looking Reality in the Eye; Museums and Social Responsibility (Calgary, University of Calgary, 2005).
3 Ricahrd Florida, The Rise of the Creative Class, (New York: Basic Books, 2002).
4 Stephen E. Weil, Making Museums Matter, (Washington, Smithsonian Institution, 2002) p.196.
The aim of art is to represent not the outward appearance of things, but their inward significance. – Aristotle
UPCOMING CONFERENCES
“To Be or Not To Be “ CMA Annual Conference : May 2 – 6, 2006 and
CFFM AGM : May 4, 2006
Saint John, New Brunswick
www.museums.ca
The Philosophy of Archives Archives Association of
Ontario: June 7 – 9, 2006
MacMaster University, Hamilton.
WORLD FEDERATION OF FRIENDS OF MUSEUMS
The World Federation has issued a beautiful book called “Art Donations” showing some of the donations made to member museums by their friends groups. It is in English, French and Spanish.
The annual council meeting of the WFFM ( not to be confused with the triennial Congress open to all members, which was held in Seville, Spain last year ) is to be held in Santiago, Chile in May this year. You may remember this business meeting was held in Montreal last year.
CFFM
Art Gallery of Toronto
317 Dundas Street W. Toronto M5T 1G4
1 – 416 – 979 – 6650
cffm_fcam@ago.net
www.cffm-fcam.ca
QUOTE FROM THE CANADIAN MUSEUMS ASSOCIATION, JANUARY, 2006
“Canada’s 2,500 museums receive over 59 million visitors a year, employ 24,000 people across the country and are supported by 55,000 volunteers and 300,000 friends. Museums, galleries and related institutions contribute $650 million in salaries and wages to the Canadian economy and contribute $17 billion annually to Canada’s GDP”
TRAVEL WITH FRIENDS
The Volunteer Committee, Art Gallery of Greater Victoria,Victoria, B.C.
Contemporary Art Tour to Cuba: March – April 3, 2006 Diane Rickson 250 – 370 – 1921
The Volunteer Travel Committee, Museum London, London, Ontario
Spain: April 22 – May 5, 2006 Ellison Travel 1 – 800 – 265 – 7022 ext. 235
Travel AGO, Art Gallery of Ontario, Toronto, Ontario
Art in Washington – Cezanne and Dada: May 4 – 7, 2006 Fern Daiter 416 – 481 – 4154
Volunteers Circle, National Gallery of Ottawa, Ottawa, Ontario
Cezanne in Provence and Washington in Bloom: April 5 – 9, 2006
Executive Worldwide Travel 613 – 236 – 5555
Tour Committee, The Art Gallery of Windsor, Windsor, Ontario
Italian Vistas: April 17 – 29, 2006 Collette Vacations 1 – 800 – 209 – 7114
ROM Travel, Royal Ontario Museum, Toronto, Ontario
Russia: May 12 – 25, 2006 Canadian Travel Abroad Ltd. 416 – 364 – 2738
Three Arctic Adventures:
Glaciers to Graves: August 17 – 28. 2006
The Last Imaginary Place: August 28 – September 9, 2006
James Houston, Celebrating a Life: September 9 – 14, 2006 Adventure Canada 905 – 271 – 4000
Argentina: October 19 – November 4, 2006 Worldwide Quest International 416 – 633 – 5666
Egypt and Its Oases: November 2 – 22, 2006 Canadian Travel Abroad Ltd. 416 – 364 – 2738
